Camel
The earliest known camel, called Protylopus, lived in North America 40 to 50 million years ago during the Eocene. It was about the size of a rabbit and roamed open woodlands where South Dakota now stands. By 35 million years ago, the Poebrotherium grew to the size of a goat and displayed many traits similar to modern camels and llamas. The hoofed Stenomylus walked on the tips of its toes around this same time. A long-necked creature named Aepycamelus evolved later in the Miocene epoch. The split between the tribes Camelini and Lamini occurred over 16 million years ago. The ancestor of modern camels, Paracamelus, migrated into Eurasia from North America via Beringia during the late Miocene. This migration happened between 7.5 and 6.5 million years ago. During the Pleistocene, roughly 3 to 1 million years ago, North American Camelidae spread to South America through the newly formed Isthmus of Panama. Populations of Paracamelus continued to exist in the North American Arctic into the Early Pleistocene. This creature stood around two meters tall. The last camel native to North America was Camelops hesternus. It vanished along with horses, mammoths, and mastodons as part of the Quaternary extinction event. This disappearance coincided with human migration from Asia at the end of the Pleistocene, approximately 13 to 11,000 years ago.
A full-grown adult dromedary camel stands one point eight meters at the shoulder and two point one meters at the hump. These animals can run at up to sixty-five kilometers per hour in short bursts. They sustain speeds of up to forty kilometers per hour over longer distances. Camels have a series of physiological adaptations that allow them to withstand long periods without water. A dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every ten days even under very hot conditions. They can lose up to thirty percent of their body mass due to dehydration. When they do drink, they consume as much as one hundred liters at a time. This fluid stores in the bloodstream rather than in the humps. Unlike other mammals, camels' red blood cells are oval rather than circular in shape. This facilitates flow during dehydration and helps them withstand high osmotic variation. Their temperature ranges from thirty-four degrees Celsius at dawn to forty-one degrees Celsius by sunset. In general, camels lose only 1.3 liters of fluid intake every day while other livestock lose twenty to forty liters daily. Camels rarely sweat even when ambient temperatures reach fifty degrees Celsius. Any sweat that occurs evaporates at the skin level rather than on the surface of their coat. The heat of vaporization comes from body heat instead of ambient heat.
When humans first domesticated camels remains disputed among scholars. Dromedaries may have first been domesticated in Somalia or South Arabia sometime during the third millennium BC. Bactrian camels were likely domesticated in central Asia around 2500 BC. A study from 2016 suggested initial domestication occurred in the southeast Arabian Peninsula. Martin Heide's 2010 work concluded humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium east of the Zagros Mountains. Excavations in the Timna Valley between 2009 and 2013 uncovered what may be the earliest domestic camel bones found in Israel. These bones date to around 930 BC. This discovery suggests stories of Abraham, Jacob, Esau, and Joseph were written after this time. Most scholars today agree the dromedary was exploited as a pack animal sometime in the early Iron Age. Current data indicate this event occurred not earlier than the last third of the tenth century BC. The introduction of the dromedary camel substantially facilitated trade across vast deserts of Arabia. It promoted both economic and social change throughout the region.
By at least 1200 BC the first camel saddles appeared allowing Bactrian camels to be ridden. Control of these animals was exercised by means of a stick. Between 500 and 100 BC, Bactrian camels came into military use with new inflexible saddles. In the seventh century BC the military Arabian saddle evolved to improve design slightly. The first documented use of camel cavalries occurred in the Battle of Qarqar in 853 BC. Armies have used camels as freight animals instead of horses and mules for centuries. The East Roman Empire utilized auxiliary forces known as dromedarii recruited from desert provinces. These camels were used mostly in combat because they could scare off horses at close range. Horses are afraid of the camels' scent, a quality famously employed by Achaemenid Persians fighting Lydia in 547 BC. The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps stationed in California during the 19th century. One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal where they now serve as the Benicia Historical Museum. France created a méhariste camel corps in 1912 as part of the Armée d'Afrique in the Sahara. The British created the Imperial Camel Corps in 1916 to fight the Senussi before moving to the Sinai Campaign.
There are approximately fourteen million camels alive today with ninety percent being dromedaries. The Horn region alone has the largest concentration of camels in the world. Dromedaries constitute an important part of local nomadic life in Somalia and Ethiopia. They provide milk, food, and transportation to these people. Over one million dromedary camels are estimated to be feral in Australia. This population grows about eight percent per year and was estimated at seven hundred thousand in 2008. Representatives of the Australian government have culled more than one hundred thousand animals. These culls occur partly because the camels use too much limited resources needed by sheep farmers. A small population of introduced camels wandered through Southwestern United States after being imported in the 19th century. Twenty-five U.S. camels were bought and exported to Canada during the Cariboo Gold Rush. The Bactrian camel is reduced to an estimated 1.4 million animals most of which are domesticated. The wild Bactrian camel is critically endangered and numbers approximately nine hundred fifty individuals. These wild camels inhabit the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.
Camel meat and milk are foods found in many cuisines typically in Middle Eastern and North African regions. Approximately 3.3 million camels and camelids are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. A male dromedary carcass can weigh four hundred kilograms while a male Bactrian can weigh up to six hundred kilograms. The brisket, ribs, and loin are among the preferred parts with the hump considered a delicacy. Camel milk can readily be made into yogurt but requires souring before making butter. Professor J.P. Ramet produced curdling by adding calcium phosphate and vegetable rennet in the 1990s. This cheese has low levels of cholesterol and is easy to digest even for lactose intolerant people. Camel blood is also consumable as seen among pastoralists in northern Kenya where it acts as a key source of iron. Camel meat has been eaten for centuries and recorded by ancient Greek writers at banquets in ancient Persia. The Roman emperor Heliogabalus enjoyed camel's heel. Camel meat is mainly eaten in Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kazakhstan, and other arid regions.
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Common questions
When did the earliest known camel Protylopus live in North America?
The earliest known camel called Protylopus lived 40 to 50 million years ago during the Eocene epoch. It roamed open woodlands where South Dakota now stands and was about the size of a rabbit.
How long can a dromedary camel go without water under hot conditions?
A dromedary camel can drink as seldom as once every ten days even under very hot conditions. They sustain speeds of up to forty kilometers per hour over longer distances while losing only 1.3 liters of fluid intake daily compared to twenty to forty liters for other livestock.
When were Bactrian camels first domesticated according to historical records?
Bactrian camels were likely domesticated in central Asia around 2500 BC. A study from 2016 suggested initial domestication occurred in the southeast Arabian Peninsula while Martin Heide's 2010 work concluded humans had domesticated the Bactrian camel by at least the middle of the third millennium east of the Zagros Mountains.
What year did the United States Army establish the U.S. Camel Corps in California?
The United States Army established the U.S. Camel Corps stationed in California during the 19th century. One may still see stables at the Benicia Arsenal where they now serve as the Benicia Historical Museum.
How many wild Bactrian camels remain today and where do they live?
The wild Bactrian camel is critically endangered and numbers approximately nine hundred fifty individuals. These wild camels inhabit the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in China and Mongolia.